Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Connecting with Creative Minds: 877 Workshop Studio Visit

One of the greatest gifts during our summer stay in Germany has been meeting and connecting with other creative minds. Getting to know Sylvia and Daniel of 877 Workshop was quite serendipitous as most of our encounters tend to be. I first saw the thumbnail image of 877 Workshop graphic on the IG notification. Their graphic grabbed my attention and I was so excited to find out that their workshop was located in Hamburg. Their IG profile featured their store address so I assumed that they had a physical location so Frido and I strolled their neighborhood looking for their storefront on a really hot and humid Hamburg summer day.

When we found their place, the door was locked and it did not look like their space was opened for visitors. Frido almost turned around and I insisted that we at least rang a bell to see if we could take a look. Sylvia kindly let us in and as Frido and I walked into their space with our eyes marveling their artifacts, she calls out to us by saying, "are you Baum-kuchen?"

We, of course, got in talking about how much we love and appreciate great craftsmanship, analogue tools, and artifacts made with care and I almost forgot that we had our kids at Frido's parents' house. (Yes. Kids were totally fine with their Omi and Opi and ice cream treats:)

What astonished us was Sylvia and Daniels' obsession with vintage analogue machines, tools, and molds as well as their passion for crafting their own tools to produce 877 Workshop artifacts. They walked us through their well-maintained vintage tools and machines and generously shared their design process with us. The spontaneous conversation led us to a possible future collaboration... and now we are waiting for the first round of prototype to arrive from their studio. (And it includes beautiful one-of-the-kind brass charms handmade by 877 Workshop).

I often get asked how we find artifacts we carry at Baum-kuchen. If I frequent to various trade shows to hunt for new and trendy items. The truth is that I believe that serendipity and karma take care of a lot of our past, present, and future curation at Baum-kuchen. The process works out on its own without feeling forced to add more items on our shelves just to keep up with the fast turnaround of consumerism and what's trendy.

I am so thankful to have met Daniel and Sylvia in a way we did because it was just the way I love to encounter what might be for our future BK collection. And more so, to have made the new friends who are so unique, inquisitive, and passionate about what they do.